Alexander von Humboldt Foundation: "Georg Forster Research Fellowship" Programme

Every year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation enables highly-qualified academics from transition and developing countries to spend time in Germany working on research under the "Georg Forster Research Fellowship" Programme. In this way, the Foundation promotes the sharing of knowledge and methods between Germany and the researchers' own countries.

For this fellowship programme, which is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the Humboldt Foundation has managed to acquire approx. seven million EUR in additional funding from the EU. This additional EU support will be available until 2018.

The EU funding will be used to finance additional benefits:

• a subsidy towards a pension plan to compensate for any disadvantages ensuing from a fellowship in comparison with an employment contract
• a bridging grant to cover periods of unemployment in Germany
• improved family allowances
• a subsidy towards the costs of child care to help reconcile research and family life

Post-doctoral researchers (up to a maximum of four years after  completing a doctorate) receive a monthly fellowship of 2,650 EUR.  Experienced researchers (up to a maximum of 12 years after completing a doctorate) receive 3,159 EUR per month.

Georg Forster Research Fellowships are granted on the strength of the applicant's academic qualifications and the relevance of the proposed  research project to development. If the conditions for conducting research in a given country are difficult, this will be taken into account.

We should be most grateful if you wouldpublicisethe Georg Forster Research Fellowship Programme in your networks and encourage potential candidates to apply. Please note that individuals who have already been sponsored by the Humboldt Foundation are not eligible to apply for another of the Foundation's fellowships.

The first selection meeting for Georg Forster Research Fellowships (HERMES) will take place in February 2014.

Visit www.humboldt-foundation.de/georgforster for additional  information on the programme. You can also download the information leaflet at www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/gf-short-information.html.  

If you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to send an email to [email protected]